Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Jim McDougall · 16th October 2012, 04:12 AM

Hi Lofty,
Actually I think that any references or articles specifically on Iraqi arms and armour would be difficult to find, as these are typically among the collective corpus of references on Islamic arms in general. In Robert Elgood's outstanding book "Firearms in the Islamic World, in the Tareq Rajab Museum, Kuwait", the arms of Syria and Iraq are given only brief mention in chapter 9, consisting of only three pages. It seems most of the references refer primarily to Kurds, and Syria, but no examples are illustrated, though as Ibrahiim has noted, it would be surprising if there were not some examples in the museum even if of lesser quality that may have not met the standard for the book.
He does note the book by J.L.Burckhardt, "Travels in Syria and the Holy Land" (London, 1822) which seems to focus on Kurds and thier use of some Caucasian arms and thier swords of Arab and Turkish types.

Im not sure of the scope of arms you are interested in and what period(s) but early forms which would correspond to Abbasid swords in degree are found in "Islamic Swords and Swordsmiths" (Yucel).

In "Weapons of the Islamic World: Swords and Armour", exhibition catalog of the 1991 exhibition in the King Faisal Foundation Center in Riyadh, there a number of excellent examples of janbiyya of 'Baghdadi' form. These have enlarged pommel and guard of corresponding shape with narrow central grip and resemble these used by the ethnic group in Iraq I believe termed Marsh Arabs, but I do not have more specific on this. These 'Baghdadi' form janbiyyas are used in Syria and Iraq and listed as NW Mesopotamia as well.

The swords of distinct Syrian type hilt (termed 'Baddawi') seem to certainly have been likely to have been used in Iraq much as they were from Syria into Saudi Arabia.

These are the only references I have seen available in the west with a degree of inclusion of specifically noted Iraqi weapons.

I hope this might help, and would be interested to know more specifically what you might be looking into, maybe I can look further.

All the very best,
Jim

16th October 2012, 04:12 AM	#3
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,738	Hi Lofty, Actually I think that any references or articles specifically on Iraqi arms and armour would be difficult to find, as these are typically among the collective corpus of references on Islamic arms in general. In Robert Elgood's outstanding book "Firearms in the Islamic World, in the Tareq Rajab Museum, Kuwait", the arms of Syria and Iraq are given only brief mention in chapter 9, consisting of only three pages. It seems most of the references refer primarily to Kurds, and Syria, but no examples are illustrated, though as Ibrahiim has noted, it would be surprising if there were not some examples in the museum even if of lesser quality that may have not met the standard for the book. He does note the book by J.L.Burckhardt, "Travels in Syria and the Holy Land" (London, 1822) which seems to focus on Kurds and thier use of some Caucasian arms and thier swords of Arab and Turkish types. Im not sure of the scope of arms you are interested in and what period(s) but early forms which would correspond to Abbasid swords in degree are found in "Islamic Swords and Swordsmiths" (Yucel). In "Weapons of the Islamic World: Swords and Armour", exhibition catalog of the 1991 exhibition in the King Faisal Foundation Center in Riyadh, there a number of excellent examples of janbiyya of 'Baghdadi' form. These have enlarged pommel and guard of corresponding shape with narrow central grip and resemble these used by the ethnic group in Iraq I believe termed Marsh Arabs, but I do not have more specific on this. These 'Baghdadi' form janbiyyas are used in Syria and Iraq and listed as NW Mesopotamia as well. The swords of distinct Syrian type hilt (termed 'Baddawi') seem to certainly have been likely to have been used in Iraq much as they were from Syria into Saudi Arabia. These are the only references I have seen available in the west with a degree of inclusion of specifically noted Iraqi weapons. I hope this might help, and would be interested to know more specifically what you might be looking into, maybe I can look further. All the very best, Jim Last edited by Jim McDougall; 16th October 2012 at 04:33 AM.